About the book

Odyseusze z Maisons-Laffitte. Duchowe portrety autorów „Kultury” paryskiej

The book is a collection of ten literary essays devoted to authors associated with the Paris-based journal “Kultura”. Its protagonists include poets Czesław Miłosz and Wacław Iwaniuk, essayists Konstanty Jeleński and Jerzy Stempowski, diarists Józef Czapski and Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, playwright Witold Gombrowicz, novelist Florian Czarnyszewicz, and the author of the famous “Szkice piórkiem”, Andrzej Bobkowski.

They are all connected by the shared idea of the journal, which functioned as an intellectual centre of Polish emigration in the second half of the 20th century. They also proved to be outstanding creators in the history of 20th-century Polish literature. The phenomenon of the “Kultura” milieu is deepened here through portraits of its main figures in a spiritual dimension – not only in relation to fundamental questions of collective life, but above all through their individual existential and often metaphysical searches. The question of the personal search for meaning opens a new perspective on the reception of the works and attitudes of people who continue to shape our present.

About the participants

Łukasz Marcińczak – born in 1971 in Łódź. Graduate of philosophy at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, PhD in humanities (philosophy). Former editor of the UMCS Alumni Association journal “AS UMCS”. Since 2006, permanent contributor to “Akcent”, where he publishes essays, reviews, and sketches on authors associated with the Paris “Kultura” circle and the multicultural past of Lublin and the Lublin region. He has also published in “Colloquia Communia”, “Gazeta Wyborcza”, and “Magyar Napló” (Budapest). Author of the poetry volume “Profil odciśnięty w glinie” (2002) and the collections of philosophical dialogues “Świat trzeba przekręcić” (2013) and “Świat trzeba dokończyć” (2017). Co-editor of books on Andrzej Klimowicz and Jadwiga Mizińska. His most important essays were collected in “Kamienie pachnące szafranem” (Lublin, 2016). Recipient of several honours, including the Medal of the President of Lublin (2010) and the Medal of the 700th Anniversary of the City of Lublin (2018).

Aleksandra Zińczuk is a literary scholar, poet, essayist, social anthropologist, and translator. She is a cultural manager, Editor-in-Chief of the “Kultura Enter” magazine, and Managing Editor at the Workshops of Culture Publishing House. For her literary work and publishing initiatives, she has received numerous distinctions, including the Literatura na Świecie Award and the Hryhorii Skovoroda International Literary Prize. For many years, she has been actively involved in creating spaces for intercultural dialogue at the intersection of cultural heritage, history, art, and literature. Since the outbreak of the war, she has been engaged in providing support and assistance to Ukraine.

Host: Marianna Kril

Details

When: July 5, Sunday, 17:30-18:30
Where: Workshops of Culture, Grodzka 7 – patio
Admission free